“We Are Not Aware Of Any Supreme Court Judgment Barring Pantami” — Gombe PDP Insists Ex-Minister Can Contest Fresh Primary

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State has cleared former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Pantami, Usman Aliyu Garry and Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki to contest a fresh governorship primary scheduled for Tuesday, September 29, 2026, following a Federal High Court judgment nullifying the process that earlier produced Pantami as the party’s candidate.

The party said the fresh exercise would be conducted in compliance with the September 24 judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Gombe, which ordered the PDP to conduct another governorship primary within 30 days.

Gombe PDP State Publicity Secretary, Abdulkadir Ahmed Dukku, confirmed that Pantami, Garry and Mailantarki had all been cleared to participate in the fresh contest.

Dukku said the party was prepared to comply with the court’s directive and proceed with the exercise in accordance with its rules and applicable electoral laws.

“We will conduct the fresh primary in accordance with the judgment of the Federal High Court,” he said.

He also rejected suggestions that Pantami had been barred from participating in the fresh exercise, maintaining that the party was not aware of any Supreme Court judgment disqualifying the former minister from the contest.

The primary follows the judgment delivered by Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed on Thursday, September 24, which nullified the earlier process that produced Pantami as PDP’s governorship candidate for the 2027 election.

The court held that the earlier primary failed to comply with the PDP’s internal regulations and applicable provisions of the Electoral Act, resulting in the exclusion of aspirants who had been screened and cleared to participate.

Pantami had emerged from the earlier process through a voice affirmation after joining the PDP following his unsuccessful bid for the All Progressives Congress governorship ticket.

However, the Federal High Court declined a request by the plaintiffs to disqualify Pantami outright or remove him from the PDP over allegations that he remained a member of the APC at the relevant time. The immediate effect of the judgment was therefore to nullify the previous primary and order the party to conduct a fresh one.

The legal dispute has, however, not ended.

Lawyers representing some of the challengers have filed a notice of appeal against the part of the judgment that permits Pantami to participate in another primary and have also filed a motion seeking a stay of execution.

The application seeks, among other things, to restrain the PDP from proceeding with a fresh primary involving Pantami and to prevent the Independent National Electoral Commission from monitoring or supervising such an exercise pending the determination of the appeal.

The challengers have relied on the Supreme Court’s recent interpretation of provisions of the Electoral Act dealing with party membership registers submitted to INEC ahead of primaries.

Their argument is that Pantami was not contained in the PDP membership register submitted to INEC within the statutory period and should therefore not participate in the fresh primary. That contention remains the subject of further legal proceedings and has not displaced the Federal High Court’s subsisting order directing the PDP to conduct another primary.

The PDP in Gombe has meanwhile maintained that all three aspirants remain cleared for the September 29 exercise.

The party had earlier directed eligible members and delegates to assemble at their respective ward areas to choose their preferred aspirant.

“Following the nullification, the PDP wishes to inform all its card-carrying members that there will be a gubernatorial repeat primary election on Tuesday, 29th September, 2026,” Dukku said in the party’s earlier announcement.

The party has also appealed to its members and supporters to remain peaceful and avoid actions capable of disrupting the exercise.

The fresh primary is expected to determine who will fly the PDP flag in the 2027 Gombe State governorship election, subject to the outcome of the continuing court proceedings surrounding the process.

For Pantami, the exercise represents another attempt to secure the PDP ticket after the process that first produced him was set aside by the court.

For Garry and Mailantarki, who challenged aspects of the earlier process, the fresh primary provides another opportunity to compete directly for the ticket after the court found that qualified aspirants had been improperly excluded from the previous exercise.

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